GMAT test-takers to have identities verified biometrically
23 July, 2008
category: Biometrics
In an effort to curb cheating in the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), test takers will soon be required to submit to a palm-vein scan as an additional form of identity verification, according to a Wall Street Journal article.
Officials from Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), who oversee the test, feel that the additional verification measures should help keep frauds from taking the place of test takers to earn higher scores. Previously, since 2006, test takers were required to give a digital fingerprint; however, that system was more easily beaten by the fraudsters.
The palm-vein scan works by taking an infra-red picture of one’s palm which can see the unique pattern of veins in the test-takers hand. They system requires only that the test-taker holds their hand over a small cube for a few seconds while the picture is taken.
While there are security concerns and some feel that biometric data should be discarded some time after the test to stop the information from falling into the wrong hands, the GMAC plans on adding the data to a test-taker’s permanent file. The palm scan system is expected to be in place next month in Korea and India, in the fall in the U.S., and world-wide by May 2009.
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